


Patterns and Cycles

by arcanesupernova



Series: Always Have Been, Always Will Be - A Series of One-Shots [16]
Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, F/M, Ted is sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27711719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcanesupernova/pseuds/arcanesupernova
Summary: Ted repeats the same cycle every time Charlotte calls. Melissa lends a helpful ear to his struggle and suggests it might be time to move on.
Relationships: Charlotte/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), Ted & Melissa
Series: Always Have Been, Always Will Be - A Series of One-Shots [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2099445
Kudos: 11





	Patterns and Cycles

**Author's Note:**

> I did absolutely no proofreading and next to no editing and I typed it all on my phone.  
> That being said, I absolutely love Ted.  
> Also, apparently I can't add tags on mobile so fuck me I guess.

"Just leave, Ted," Charlotte bellowed, throwing his shirt at his face as she pulled the sheet up to cover her exposed form. "I knew you being here would be a mistake! Just leave me alone, alright? If I never saw you again, it would be too soon.”

Ted grabbed his clothes, not even bothering to dress as he stormed out of the room. This would be the fifth "I never want to see you again" he'd received from Charlotte in two months. He was always going to be her "mistake", always there to put her back together only to be kicked to the curb the next morning. It was just a cycle. "Never" would end right around the same time Sam would fall through for her and he would be back in her bed letting the process repeat over and over. There would never be a "Last Time" until one of them died. 

He walked out into the rain, the cold drops chilling him as he haphazardly pulled his shirt back over his shoulders. He shivered as he climbed into his car, turning the engine over and desperately twisting the temperature dials on his dash to try to warm up, only to be greeted with a cold rush of air from the vents. He turned the dial back and forth, revving the old engine to try and warm up faster only to be greeted with more cold air. He slammed his hands on the wheel in frustration before wrenching the car door open and just letting the rain soak him. He was furious, he was frustrated and most agonizing, he let himself be disappointed again. How could he be this hard to love, to want around? Ever since Jenny, he'd locked that part of him away. Until she came around. Until she came and turned that key and let all of those nasty feelings and emotions he tried to pretend didn't exist flow right back out. It all came back so easily with Charlotte, far too easily for his liking, but there he was, week after week, month after month, rushing to her side at the smallest sign of distress.

He really must be an idiot.

He slammed the car door shut, deciding a walk in the rain would be better than just freezing to death in a car. His apartment wasn't far, something that small little voice in the back of his mind would wrench up and remind him of as he tried to talk himself out of going over to see her. It was a ten minute walk at best and the rain felt good on his skin now that the initial chill had worn off. He was used to that, getting used to the best of a bad situation. It was just second nature.

The sidewalk was slick, but Ted walked with no real desire to lock himself in his tiny apartment and when it came to his turn, he found himself walking away from his apartment and headed to Hatchet Park. There was a bench there, a quiet, lonely bench tucked away from the rest of the park where Ted had found himself at more and more ever since he met Charlotte. No, it wasn't the first time Ted had taken a morose stroll into a dark, wooded park in hopes that maybe the worst would happen. He didn't want to die, of course, but every time he found himself wandering toward that bench the idea would creep up on him and he wondered if it would really be that bad. No more seeing her cry, no more seeing her try desperately to love a man who hadn't cared for her in years. No more her. The thought was always enough to propel him off the bench, lost in a sea of thought about what she would do without him to take her frustrations out on. She would find someone better, sure, but that was a given. There wasn't much further below him, except Sam. He'd offered to take her away from him, to help her get her life straightened out all with no expectations from him. He wanted to be with her, sure, but more importantly he wanted her to get away from Sam.

The rain stopped as he finally came to a stop at his bench but the trees continued to drip their reserves right down onto him. His head in his hands, he didn't bother looking up when he heard footsteps go by. If someone wanted to take him out of his misery, then by all means. It wasn't until the wood next to him sunk down that he bothered looking over, surprised to see Melissa by his side. She looked at him curiously, tucked away in her raincoat but didn't question him, didn't demand to know what was wrong. Maybe she could just sense it. Maybe she noticed the glances across the office when that phone would ring. Maybe she could just sense that he needed someone to be there, to not tell him he needed to leave, that he was unwanted where he felt most comfortable yet again.

Melissa sat there until he was ready to wander home, still lost in his sea of melancholy. She walked with him, still saying silent until they arrived at his doorstep.

"You didn't have to walk me home," he grumbled finally, digging his keys out of his pocket to unlock the door.

"I just wanted to make sure you made it home safe," she said simply, looking around at the empty street before looking back up at him. "There have been a lot of disappearances lately and I didn't want that to happen to you."

"Well, thanks but I really don't think I needed your protection tonight."

"You saw her tonight, didn't you?" Melissa asked quietly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ted jumped back, instinctually looking around like someone might have heard her and his whole world would be exposed. He nodded quickly once he confirmed that the street was, in fact, empty at three am. She made a soft "aha" sound before directing him into his house.

She guided him upstairs and while his mind argued with him to tell her to stop, to tell her to leave and to get out and to just go away, he let her. She left him alone in his living room, exploring the rest of the apartment to find his bathroom. He heard the showerhead screech as water started falling from it and Melissa reappeared with a towel.

"I can bathe myself," he grumbled, taking the towel from her with a huff. She rolled her eyes and sent him off to his own bathroom. Normally, he would be furious. He didn't know Melissa from the last five secretaries that Davidson had hired but something in her knowing smile sent him off without another snippy remark. The water burned him at first, despite the moderate temperature she had set it to but he quickly adjusted, washing his hair and his body quickly before climbing back out. The shower left him feeling a little more human than before and most if not all of his melancholy thoughts had quieted down for the night. When he pulled the door open, he scanned the hall quickly before dashing across the hall to pull on some clean clothes. A pair of sweats and a college t-shirt, sure, but he could feel the warmth spreading to his still chilled limbs as he went back out into the kitchen.

Melissa was sitting at the table, her raincoat tucked onto the back of her chair with two steaming cups in front of her as she patted the table gently. He obliged, sitting next to her and taking a sip of what he was surprised to find as hot chocolate. He let out a soft "mmm" as the drinks warmth filled him, getting to all of the nooks and crannies a hot shower and warm clothes couldn't quite reach. Melissa's smile spread quickly over her face as she took a sip from her own cup.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Ted asked when the silence had gotten to be too much, "You know Charlotte's a married woman. You know I'm an asshole for what we're doing behind her husband's back."

"I know that I have been in similar shoes as you," she told him after a pause, "I didn't necessarily sleep with the person but I know what it's like to watch someone I care about lose themselves to a hopeless relationship."

"How did you know I had seen her tonight?" Was his next question, the warmth allowing his own colder, blunter exterior to take over. "Did you follow me?"

"No," she chuckled, shaking her head, "I live across from that park. I've been watching out my window for the past couple months and I've seen you sitting out there looking miserable. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to piece the sad man from the bench and the sad man at work when Charlotte won't speak to him together. I'm sorry it took so long for me to reach out."

"You don't have to do any of this, you know," Ted reminded her, finishing off the last of his cup and standing up. "I'm a big boy, I can handle my messes."

"You know you don't have to do it alone, right?" Melissa stood up with him, grabbing his arm to make him face her before he could drop the cup into the sink. "It's okay to ask for help, especially when people are offering it."

Ted let out a low chuckle and pulled away from her, letting the coffee cup fall into the sink carelessly, "What do you propose I do?" he asked with a laugh, "Rush over there? Tell her to leave that piece of shit for me? Been there, done that. Didn't even get a t-shirt."

"You could take care of yourself," she pointed out, putting her hands on her hips, "That's always a great place to start."

"I take care of myself just fine," he scoffed, "I've got the best moustache this side of Clivesdale."

"I don't mean your appearance, idiot," Melissa said, obviously growing frustrated. "Take care of your mental health. Mentally stable people don't wander into Hatchet Park at one am to just sit, soaking wet, in the cold."

"I'm fine," Ted scoffed again, this time far less vehement. "I've been making it so far, what more do you want from me?"

"Fine, Ted. I thought talking to you and trying to help would actually, you know, help, but if you don't want it, I'm not going to force you." Melissa grabbed her raincoat and pulled it on, ready to storm out.

"Wait," Ted muttered before he could stop himself, "Don't go- I'm sorry."

"Whatever, dude," she huffed, turning back to face him. "You just need to put more value into yourself and not just keep doing whatever it is you're doing."

"Do you know someone I can call?" His voice was so quiet Melissa barely heard him.

"Uh, yeah, Dr. Monroe? She's that plastic surgeon's sister," she told him, grabbing the closet pen and paper and writing the number down. "She's nothing like the rest of that family. She's really nice." Melissa handed him the paper and for a moment, Ted just stared at it. After a long, awkward silence he took the paper and hung it on his fridge with a magnet. 

Melissa nodded, turning on her heel to leave before Ted stopped her again, "Wait, let me drive you home," he offered quickly, "It's not safe, remember?" She nodded quickly, agreeing just as he remembered where his car was parked. He let out a groan, "Scratch that, I'll walk you home. My car- I left it at Charlotte's."

Melissa raised an eyebrow but nodded again. Ted pulled on a hoodie and opened the door for her, jiggling his pocket to ensure he had his keys. The walk was silent but Ted didn't feel pressured to break the silence. The raindrops dripping from the trees added a sense of surrealness to the world around him and for the first time he felt his jaw relax and the tension in his shoulders release.

They walked to the other side of the park where he let her take the lead to her place. She lived over the deli he usually got his lunch from, the one he and Charlotte had gotten into a particularly nasty argument a month before Melissa started working with them. She recognized the look of horror passing over his face and smiled softly.

"I remember that too. I was in the middle of a paper and you two offered a reprieve. Imagine my surprise when I got a new job and saw you two making googly eyes at each other." She let out a soft chuckle mostly devoid of humor.

"It was the first time I told her she should leave Sam," he reflected, staring at the empty piece of sidewalk where they'd been sitting. "I didn't get it, back then, I still don't get it now."

"It's not for you to understand, Ted," Melissa mused, staring roughly where he was, "That's between Charlotte and her husband. It's brutal and hurts like nothing you've felt before but sometimes you have to walk away from someone before you let them completely destroy you."

Ted didn't acknowledge her comment verbally but gripped his keys just a little tighter in his pocket. Clearing his throat, he said his goodbyes and left Melissa on her front steps. His mind was lost in a myriad of thoughts as he walked home. Could he really leave her behind? Could he tell her he didn't want to see her again? He'd have to leave CCRP. There was no way he could look at her everyday and not fall right back into the same patterns over and over again.

He pushed his front door open and chuckled his keys into the bowl before heading into his kitchen where the two coffee mugs were still warm on the table. He grabbed them, combining the contents before grabbing his bottle of whiskey, adding it to the cups as well.

Ted didn't know if he was strong enough to let her go. The alcohol burned the entire way down but left him feeling just a little warmer. He loved Charlotte in every way that hurt and she wasn't going to stop on her own. He finished off the spiked hot chocolate, leaving the cup in the sink but carrying the bottle of whiskey into his bedroom.

" **Teddy, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said. I'll see you at work tomorrow, okay?** "

" **Can you come get your car before Sam gets home?** "

And so the cycle starts again.


End file.
